In the last week, the number of victims in the South Caucasus between Armenia and Azerbaijan has increased, with both sides blaming each other for launching deadly attacks. Thus the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet expressed her concern about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
In the 1920s, the Soviet government established the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region in Azerbaijan, where 95% of the population is ethnically Armenian. As the Soviet Union began to collapse, Armenia and Azerbaijan entered into war on the territory in 1988, finally declaring a ceasefire in 1994. However, on Sunday 27 September the conflict started again, capturing the attention of the international community and calling for another ceasefire, fearing that the conflict will escalate and involve Russia and Turkey.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is concerned about the resumption of hostilities along the line of contact in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone and asks for an immediate end to the fighting in order to end loss of civilian lives and injuries, as well as damage to civilian property and infrastructure. She calls on all sides to respect international human rights law and international humanitarian law.
To know more, please read:
https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=26314&LangID=E
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54314341
https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/nagorno-karabakh-conflict
Author: Carla Pintor
